ASSIGNMENT | Sexual Education, School Taught

The topic of sexual education programs in schools and other educational facilities is a highly debated topic in society today. Some think that schools should leave sexual education to the parents of the children, while some believe that sexual education should be taught exclusively by our education system, while some state that there should be a middle line. Today, sexual education is extremely important to be taught at a young age. Current studies constantly find that adolescents are having sex at a younger age than ever before. Some institutions are teaching sex education at the age of 5-6, which may not be necessary at that age, but may help educators in the long run. The National Sex Education Standards, NSES thinks that sexual education should be taught to students as young as practical. They think that providing this necessary information at a young age, students are more likely to have safe sex and the knowledge to do so. (Goldfarb & Lieberman, 2020) In a recent study, 93% of high school teenagers reported to being taught sexual education sometime while they were in school. Furthermore, 96% of parents agree that sexual education should be taught in school, as well as the home. On average, students receive required sexual education while enrolled in grades 6-8 in middle school. Male and female students received sexual education at about the same age. (46% for females and 52% for males) Although, female teenagers were much more likely to talk to their parents about sexual education, STD prevention, and birth control options. (Martinez, Abma, & Copen, 2010)

Sexual Education, Parent Taught
While some argue that parents should be left to teach all of their child’s sexual education, I am not so sure. While the school system teaches everyone the same, parents can have different ways of teaching sexual education to their children. For example, some parents might be cautious when teaching sex education to their children as they are religious or think that their child is too pure to have sex. This could have disastrous consequences. A recent study found that over 20% of those living in the United States has an STD. While some such as chlamydia and Trichomoniasis can be treated, diseases such as HIV and AIDS can stick with someone for a lifetime. To add to that, over $16 billion dollars are spent in the United States to treat Sexually Transmitted Diseases. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021) Leaving sexual education to the parents can result in various children having vastly different knowledge on preventing Sexually Transmitted Diseases and attributes of sexual education.

Sexual Education, Handling STD’s

With mounting evidence condemning parent-taught sexual education and STD training, I believe the only logical and effective way of educating students about sexual education is the dual school system/parent approach. One such approach is to talk to your child about what they learned at school about sexual education and build upon what he/she already learned. This can allow the student to connect more fully with the information as it is being taught by a source familiar with them. This can increase the effectiveness of the program and can allow the child to feel comfortable with talking about their sexual health and STD’ prevention. Not only does this make the teaching process easier now but could avoid a further headache of STD’s or pregnancy in the future.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, January 25). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs): https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/prevalence-2020-at-a-glance.htm

Goldfarb, E. S., & Lieberman, L. D. (2020, October 12). Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education. Retrieved from Journal of Adolescent Health: https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(20)30456-0/fulltext

Martinez, G., Abma, J., & Copen, C. (2010, September). Educating Teenagers About Sex in the United States. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db44.htm#formalsex

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Sexual Education For a long time, schools have focused on teaching abstinence-only education that mainly encourages learners to abstain from sex, but it does not educate them what sex is. I concur with your argument that sex education should be taught in school at an early age; this means it should be introduced between the age of 5 to 6. Providing this education at an early age equips the learners with the knowledge on same-sex. According to Zulu et al (2019) when comprehensive sex education is taught in schools at an early age, it encourages…